


the dawn of brighter days

by helsinkibaby



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 13:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6286603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo and Ainsley dance on Election Night</p>
            </blockquote>





	the dawn of brighter days

**Author's Note:**

> For comment fic
> 
> Theme: rare pairs   
> Author's choice, author's choice, How did you get to save me from this desolate wasteland  
> In your eyes I see the dawn of brighter days again.  
> With my tears you washed away the mud stuck on my hands  
> All the things you're trying to do make me a better man

The door to his office is tightly shut but Leo can still hear the happy sounds of a staff celebrating re-election drifting through the heavy, solid wood. He's not worried about anyone coming in though because he's the Chief of Staff and Margaret, though he's tried to get her to join the party, is guarding his door as she always does. 

With one difference. 

Tonight, when he and Ainsley had entered his office hand in hand, she'd actually smiled. 

"Guess wonders really never will cease," Ainsley says when he points that out to her and he grins as he sways her in his arms, dancing with her to a song that only he can hear. "The President wins re-election-"

"And New Hampshire," he reminds her because that had been far from certain and was almost a bigger deal. 

She tilts her head, ceding the point. "You and I hold hands in the White House and the world doesn't end, and Margaret smiles at me." Her grin is low and teasing. "Whatever will you do for an encore?" 

Leo laughs. "Oh I have some ideas..." He brushes his lips over hers once, likes it so much he does it again. 

Surprisingly she's the one who pulls away and from the flush on her cheeks, he intuits that she's still a little nervy about the security of his office door. "This was a good day," she whispers and even though he knows that they're far from out of the woods, that even now there are matters needing his attention, he can't help but agree with her. 

"Hopefully the start of many," he says, running the back of his fingers along her cheek. She leans into his touch, her eyes fluttering shut and he wonders if she knows that his better days started long ago, back when she first looked into his eyes and smiled a smile that she had no business directing at him. 

There are so many reasons they shouldn't be here - he's glad that, for once in his life, he ignored them all. 

"You make me a better man," he hears himself say and she grins, bats her eyelashes at him. 

"I don't know..." she murmurs. "I thought you were pretty good already." 

She's not just saying that, he knows. She really means it, even though she knows about his many missteps. 

Maybe that's the greatest wonder of all. 

Or maybe it's that they're still slow dancing without music and no-one has come through the door. 

They might be pushing their luck but what the hell, he thinks, and pushes it a little more. 


End file.
